Not a Bee
by imagination-running
Summary: So long as it's not a spider, Hiccup doesn't mind bugs, but then again, Hiccup has never encountered a wasp. Hurt Hiccup. One-shot. Set during RTTE S.4.


Not a Bee

A/N: This little fic has no reason for existing apart from it was just a little idea I had to give Hiccup a hard time because what else do we writers do to Hiccup except make life difficult for him. And honestly, researching for bugs in Scandinavia is much harder than one would think. At any rate, this story takes place between "Blindsided" and "Shell-Shocked Part I." Enjoy. :)

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Berk had its fair share of bugs. Flies hung around barns and dung being the revolting, annoying little creatures that they have been since their creation. Spiders swung by on webs or scuttled along solid surfaces with their creepy legs, many eyes, and hairy bodies. Earthworms glided through moist dark dirt. The warmest months even boasted the blood-sucking little devils known as mosquitos, speck-like gnats, and hard-working bees. There were ticks, beetles, water bugs, crickets, and an array of caterpillars, moths, and butterflies, so yeah, Berk had bugs.

Hiccup wasn't all that bothered by bugs. He wasn't an etymologist by any means, but he was pretty much fine with bugs. Well, except spiders. Those creepy, nasty, jumping, scuttling things could just go crawl into a hole and die for all he cared, but he could at least say that he wasn't terrified of them like he was as child. He just…steered clear, and stomped hard when he did encounter one.

Dragon's Edge, however, was a whole new world in insects. Being further south, closer to the mainland, and home to a volcano, the island had a much larger bug population, both in variety of species and sheer numbers, and they stayed around for much longer than on the damp, cold island of Berk. Unsurprisingly, Fishlegs had marveled at the difference and spent hours categorizing and observing the tiny creatures. Snotlout found them to be yet another thing he could complain about, and the twins took a disturbing liking to the worm-like, surface-dwelling bug that seemed to have a million legs under its red and black body. Tuffnut dubbed it "Millie" because of its many, many legs. (That one was just about as creepy as spiders in Hiccup's opinion.) Astrid was the only one, apart from Hiccup, who was neither excited by or annoyed by the insects of Dragon's Edge.

In short, unless it was Millie or a spider, Hiccup generally left the bugs well enough alone. He had plenty of other things to occupy his time and thoughts, anyhow, without taking a vested interest in the tiniest creatures of their base. That was fine attitude to have. It had served him well throughout his life. Sure, he had received the occasional bee sting and mosquito bite. He had killed spiders and flies and been driven to the brink of insanity by a rogue cricket in his bedroom. For the most part, though, he lived and let live, and that worked just fine for all parties.

That all changed one fine afternoon in the late summer. He and Toothless were gathering blackberries from some wild bushes near the edge of the stream a mile or so behind the base. It was a sticky, humid day, but there was a breeze that kept it from being oppressive, especially by the water in the shade. Toothless was splashing in the stream, pouncing after fish that were jumping the little rapids. Hiccup laughed when Toothless slipped on the scummy rocks and landed with a splat. Toothless glared and flicked water at him with his tail. Hiccup dodged most of the water but still shivered as a few cool droplets shimmied down the back of his collar. He also wiped a few drops from his face. "Alright, bud, you got me. Now, come on. We need to get these berries back to the Clubhouse."

Toothless dived after one last fish, catching it between his sharp teeth, and in two bites, he had it gone. After lapping up a mouthful of water, he lumbered back to the shore, shook the excess water off his hide, and nudged his rider's hip, causing Hiccup to stumble a bit and spill a handful of berries from one of his two buckets. "Hey! Watch it!"

Toothless chortled his dragon laugh. Hiccup rolled his eyes as he tapped the lids onto the buckets and fastened them to the saddle. "Alright, bud, wait here for a minute while I refill this water jar," Hiccup said as he walked over and knelt beside the stream with the jar.

Hiccup wasn't paying attention to his right hand as he set the stopper of the jar on a rock beside him, but he did yell out and jerk his hand away when he felt the sharp prick of a sting on the back of his hand. He looked over just in time to see a large black insect whizzing away from his assaulted hand. Never on Berk had he seen an insect quite like it, though it did resemble a bee in some respects. It had filmy wings and an oblong, segmented body, and the last segment tapered into an obvious stinger. Whatever it was, he must have invaded its space.

His hand was throbbing. He looked at it to find a large, red welt with a white dot in the center where the stinger had pierced his skin. The bump was already warm to the touch, and his hand felt stiff and puffy when he tried to fist it. Hiccup sucked air through his teeth at the sharp, pulsating pain and thrust his hand into the running water. He sighed in relief as the cold water numbed his fevered hand.

Toothless crooned and nudged Hiccup's shoulder. He had come running at his rider's outcry of pain. Suddenly feeling slightly out of breath, Hiccup gasped for air. His thoughts were getting fuzzy, and his right arm drooped in weakness. Toothless nudged Hiccup more insistently, and Hiccup grasped the saddle with his left hand to pull himself onto his dragon's back. The goal was accomplished, but Hiccup swooned from lightheadedness. "Come…Come on, Toothless…Get us back," he said breathlessly.

Toothless wasted no time in getting them in the air. Hiccup's heart raced in his chest, and his stomach twisted. He leaned over onto Toothless's neck in fear. Something wasn't right. His hand was swollen and bright red. His fingers looked like fat sausages. He had never felt like this before from a sting, but he had never been stung by an insect like that particular one before, either.

Toothless glanced back at his waning rider. Hiccup swayed on his back, his adjustments to the pedal were sluggish, and the dragon could smell that something was wrong with his boy. He flew back in record time. Hiccup was fading fast. The young man struggled to breath and couldn't even sit up straight in the saddle. His Hiccup would not die, Toothless vowed as he came in sight of the base.

Dragon's Edge was extra busy this day because the A-Team, along with Stoick and even Gobber had come to run through some plans for the upcoming raid on Viggo's base. Toothless could see the massive form of Stoick on the landing platform in front of Hiccup's hut. He roared and shot a distress signal as he approached the platform. Answering roars from the other dragons reached his ears, and he saw the other riders scrambling to meet him at his projected destination. A shaky hand patted his head. "G-g-good…dragon…" Hiccup whispered. Then he groaned and curled tighter against Toothless.

Toothless roared in panic. Hiccup just managed to move the tail fin into the correct gear, and the dragon took over the landing. Hiccup, unconscious, tumbled off the dragon just as they touched down. His fake foot stayed caught in the pedal, and the others rushed to the pair. Toothless tried to turn around to check on his Hiccup, but since that foot was still locked in place, the best he could manage was a lick to Hiccup's out-stretched hand.

"Son!" Stoick was the first to reach the pair. "Son!" he repeated as he tried to pull Hiccup away from Toothless, but since Hiccup's foot was still latched to the tail fin pedal, he was unable to do so. He jerked on the foot a few times before giving up and just untying it from Hiccup's leg entirely.

By then, several other riders had made it to the platform, including Gobber and Astrid.

"Hiccup!" Astrid called. "What happened?"

"I don't know," answered Stoick gruffly. He glanced up at the others. "Gothi! He's barely breathing."

Gothi hobbled over and leaned over Hiccup's prone form. His face looked terrible with swollen features. His right hand was twice its normal size and as red as Hookfang. His breathing was shallow and fast. With his head lolled to one side, his rapid pulse was easy to spot in his neck.

Gothi immediately tugged on Hiccup's riding vest and gestured for it to be removed as well as his arm bracers, and Astrid and Stoick went to work. She then sent Gobber to grab her saddle bag from her Gronkle. He quickly limped off while Gothi turned back to Hiccup. She loosened the strings of his tunic and pulled the collar away from his neck then tilted his head back and opened his swollen mouth. His breathing had been becoming more labored by the second, but her quick actions seemed to ease it by a small margin. She then yanked Fishlegs over and pulled up Hiccup's fat right hand. She pointed to a pinprick sized white dot on the back of his hand just under his fourth knuckle.

Fishlegs's eyes widened. "Oh…I see. A sting! He's having an allergic reaction."

"He's been stung before, and this has never happened," Stoick argued.

"Maybe he was stung by something new," Astrid suggested.

"Must have been something super poisonous," Tuffnut added. "I mean look at him. He's puffed up like an angry Buffalord."

Fishlegs had pulled Hiccup's long sleeves up his arms to reveal big red splotches up and down their length. "That's not how allergic reactions work," he retorted. "It doesn't matter how big or venomous the creature is. It depends on the person who got stung. A sting from a honey bee can do this to a person if they're allergic. Whatever stung him was just an insect."

Gobber had returned, and Gothi rummaged through her bags. In seconds, she had found what she needed. She uncorked the jar and had Stoick raise up Hiccup some. She tilted the contents of the jar into Hiccup's slack mouth, then forced it closed and gently rubbed his neck to coax him into swallowing. He did, but he continued to lay slack against his father's chest. Gothi looked unconcerned as she went about making a paste from a few other ingredients she had pulled from her bag.

"Eh, Gothi…nothin's changin'," Gobber pointed out.

Gothi smacked him with her staff and continued on with making the paste. The others waited with bated breath, anxiously trusting Gothi that Hiccup would recover. It took another minute, but his breathing did begin to ease.

Astrid was holding his left hand. "Look! His arms!" she exclaimed. Everyone looked. The blotches on his arms were fading. The swelling in his face was going down, and even his stung hand was slowly turning from fiery red to sunset pink and was shrinking back to a normal size.

Hiccup groaned and turned his head. "Ugh…Wha' happened?" His voice was low and rough. Astrid squeezed his hand.

"You had an 'allergic reaction,'" quoted Tuffnut, carefully enunciating "allergic reaction."

"Yeah, you nearly died," added Ruffnut.

Hiccup grimaced as he sat up. "That explains why I feel like I've been run over by a herd of stampeding yaks."

Stoick helped Hiccup into a sitting position. "Easy, son. You had a close call. Do you know what stung you?"

"Uh…" Hiccup closed his eyes and thought back. His memories were muddled, but after a moment he recalled the strange black bug that had flown off after it had attacked his hand. He opened his eyes and looked at Fishlegs. "Some kind of bug…It was not a bee. It was longer and thinner, though. It was mostly black except for a yellow band around its tail. I've never seen one before."

Gothi grabbed his right hand and began to smear a thick brownish-green paste over the back of it. Then she wrapped it in a clean strip of cloth and tied it off.

Fishlegs thought for a moment. "That sounds like a wasp," he finally answered.

"Wasp?" Astrid asked.

"Yes. They're much more common this far south. It's too cold on Berk for them, but down here, they're easy to find. They're no more dangerous than a bee, unless you're allergic, that is," he sheepishly added with a glance at Hiccup.

Gobber had wrestled Hiccup's prosthetic from the pedal on Toothless's gear. He passed it over to his apprentice. "I'd stay away from them wasps, if I were you," he suggested.

"Well, if we're done here," Snotlout began, "then I've got more important things to do." Without waiting for an answer, he sauntered off, followed by most of the A-Team and the twins.

Toothless pushed past Astrid and Gobber and nudged Hiccup, crooning in worry. Hiccup smiled and scratched the dragon. "Hey, bud. I'm okay. You got me back in time. You're a good dragon."

Toothless licked his rider in excitement, and Hiccup laughed, pushing him away. "Toothless! That doesn't wash out!"

Toothless backed off with a gummy smile, obviously very pleased with his work. Hiccup tugged the prosthetic onto his leg and struggled to tie it until Astrid pushed his hands away. "Here, let me fix it," she insisted.

Stoick pushed himself off the platform. "Are you alright, then?"

Hiccup got to his feet and blinked rapidly when his head spun a little. "Yeah, I think so. Thanks, Dad."

Stoick smiled and clapped Hiccup on the shoulder. "It was all Gothi. I hate to think what would have happened if she hadn't been here." He turned to the diminutive woman. "Thank you, Gothi."

The elder smiled and bowed her head. Then she turned to Hiccup, gave him a pointed look, and started scratching in a bit of dust. Hiccup leaned over and read her instructions for caring for his hand. She also admonished him to not do anything strenuous for the rest of the day while his body recovered from the shock it had endured and to drink plenty of water.

Hiccup assured her he would do as he was told. Then, she, Gobber, and Stoick took their leave. "Hey, Fishlegs, could you take these berries to the Clubhouse for me?" he asked as he pulled the two closed buckets from the saddle.

Fishlegs took the buckets. "Sure. Do you need anything else?"

Hiccup shook his head. "No, that's all. Thanks, Fishlegs – for everything."

Fishlegs smiled and climbed onto Meatlug. "Come on, girl. To the Clubhouse." Meatlug rotated her bulky body to face the right direction, and the pair took off.

"So," Astrid began as she tucked her arm through his and turned him towards his hut. "Is this what I get to look forward to, then?" She was clutching his vest and arm bracers in her other hand.

Hiccup looked over at her with a grin. "Is what, what you get to look forward to?"

They walked through his doorway, and she smirked at him. "You going off and trying to die by any random means possible."

"Oh, I did this on purpose, did I?" He smiled as he took a seat at the little table.

She sat on the tabletop beside him and dropped the clothes behind her. "It's hard to tell with you."

Hiccup laughed. "Either way, it's a good thing I've got you to keep me alive."

Astrid looped her arms around his neck and leaned down. Hiccup rested his hands on her knees as she leaned down. "You should just stop scaring me like that."

"Hmm…What would you have me do instead, milady?" His eyes were twinkling.

"You're creative enough. I'm sure you'll think of something," she whispered.

"Maybe," he answered as he closed the short distance between them and pressed a kiss to her lips.

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Disclaimer: I don't own HTTYD.


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